Improvement in methods of towing boats



A G. BURNHAM.

Method of Towing Boats. 4 No. 159,151. Paten"tedJan. 26,1875.

t NITED STATES PATENT Qrrron.

IMPROVEMENT IN METHODS OF TQWING BOATS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 159,151, dated January 26, 1875; application filed November 7, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE BURNHAM, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Canal Navigation, of which the following is a specification:

The object of my invention is to draw boats on a canal by locomotives without any material interruption of travel, and by the aid of a comparatively cheap roadway; and this object I attain by arranging at one side of a canal a single continuous track to be traversed by a series of locomotives or traction-engines in the manner described hereafter.

Another object of my invention is to so an range the rails of the track as to enable the locomotive to resist the efiects of the diagonal strain imparted by the tow-rope.

The use of locomotives as substitutes for horses and mules in drawing boats on canals has heretofore been proposed, and has been objected to, mainly, owing to the expense of the roadway.

I may remark, in the outset, that the locomotive which I propose to use will be constructed with the view of obtaining the desired power of traction while moving at the rate of from three to five miles per hour; that the single track used will be little, if any, wider than an ordinary tow-path, and that owing to the low rate of speedof the locomotives the track'can be cheaply constructed with wooden rails, if desired; and that the track will be continuous, having no switches or turnouts for the purpose of enabling the locomotives to pass each other, for I propose to use a series of locomotives or traction-engines in the following manner: The track throughout will he in sections of, say, a mile or two miles in length, without any interruption, however, of the continuity of the rails, the terminuses of the different sections being simply indicated by any fixed object which the engineer of the locomotive can observe. There will be one traction-engine or locomotive for each section, and the duty of this engine will be to traverse the track from one terminus to the other of the section, and back again. On the arrival of an engine with a boat or train of boats at one terminus, it will meet another engine towing another train of boats, and the two engineers will simply exchange tow-ropes, and then return, and this system will be adopted throughout the entire length of the canal, so that there will be no interruption of travel, the stopping of the engines, exchange of tow-ropes, and starting of the engines on their return trips being accomplished without any stoppage of the boats.

It will not be necessary for one locomotive to wait at one terminus until another locomotive, which may be behind time, reaches the same terminus from the opposite direction, for the first locomotive to arrive at the terminus may continue its course beyond the same until it meets the other locomotive, and may make up for lost time by increased speed during the return trip; but the speed of the locomotives should be so regulated that they will, under ordinary circumstances, meet at the terminuses.

Each locomotive of the series may traverse two or more sections, if the boats or trains of boats on the canal be few in number.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a plan view of a canal with the track on one side of the same, a a being the terminuses of the sections; 1) b, the locomotives, and d d the trains of boats. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section of the canal and track, composed of two rails, that nearest the canal being elevated above the level of the outer rail, so that the side of the locomotive nearest the canal will be higher than the opposite side-a plan which will in a measure counteract the effects of the diagonal strain exerted on the locomotive by the tow-rope.

I claim as my invention The above-described method of to win gboats, consisting in arranging a series of towing-locomotives on a single track at one bank of a canal, operating said locomotives in pairs, in each of which two engines alternately approach and recede, and transferring the boats successively from the control of one engine to that of the next at the point when. the engines meet and change their direction, all as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

' GEORGE BURNHAM.

Witnesses:

HUBERT HowsoN, HARRY SMITH. 

